River splits at Delgado

Press Release Archive

NEW ORLEANS, La. Pearl River Community College split with Delgado in NJCAA women and men basketball action here Thursday with the Lady Wildcats dominating the host Lady Dolphins 61-40, while the Wildcats blew an 11-point halftime lead to fall 84-81. The PRCC women improved to 4-3 overall with the victory, while its men dropped to 3-5. DCC women dropped to 1-7, while its men improved to 8-1. The Lady Wildcats held on to a narrow 24-23 lead at the intermission before outscoring the Lady Dolphins 37-17 in the second half to take the 21-point victory. Branita Malone out of Choctaw High in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., paced The River with 12 points and 10 rebounds both game-high totals while Shanta Echols of Sumrall High added 10 (five rebounds), Samantha Gunn out of Velma Jackson High in Canton (four rebounds, four steals) and Toy Johnson of Pascagoula High (five assists, four steals), nine each; Quentessa Bullock of East Marion High seven (six rebounds), and Alayna Bridges of Oak Grove High (four rebounds), Daiquari Raine of Poplarville High (five rebounds), and Lolecia Richardson out of Provine High in Jackson (four rebounds), two a piece. Claudia Tasker led Delgado with nine points (four rebounds), while Ciara Auqillard and Aundralina Marshall added eight each. Deangenee Thomas scored seven (six rebounds), Kayla Jackson three (four rebounds), Jacqueline Breland two, and Aerion Banks, Kirsten Black, and Daykosha Brown, one a piece. Pearl River hit 58.8 percent (10 of 17) from the free throw line to Delgado 52.6 percent (10 of 19), while the Lady Wildcats were 25 of 55 (45.5 percent) from the field to the Lady Dolphins dismal 14-of-54 (25.9 percent) effort. From three-point range, PRCC was one of five (20 percent), while DCC was two of 13 (15.4 percent). Pearl River dominated the boards with 50 rebounds (18 offensive, 32 defensive) to Delgado 27 (12 offensive, 15 defensive), while the Lady Cats had 30 turnovers to the Lady Dolphins 27. In the men game, the Wildcats held on to a commanding 39-28 lead at the intermission only to see the Dolphins bounce back with an equally dominating 56-42 advantage in the second half to take the three-point victory. Daron Bell of Bay High (10 rebounds) and Yondarius Johnson, a Grambling State (La.) transfer from Plain Dealing, La. (four rebounds, five assists), led Pearl River with 19 points each; while Zane Knowles, another Grambling transfer who hails from Nassau, Bahamas, added nine (12 rebounds). Derionne Stewart of Picayune High scored eight, Raheem England of Decatur (Ala.) High seven, Mike Henry of Wayne County High six, Jeremy Moore out of Jim Hill High in Jackson five (five assists), and Josh Carpenter of Oak Grove High and Quentin Watkins out of Lanier High in Jackson (five assists), four each. Rashaun Claiborne paced the Dolphins with a game-high 26 points (six rebounds), while Melvin Davis added 15, Jauries Thomas 13 (12 rebounds), Justin Harris nine, Dylan Parfait seven, and Jalen Jones four. Pearl River hit 64.7 percent (11 of 17) from the free throw line to Delgado 74.3 percent (26 of 35), while the Wildcats were 33 of 62 (53.2 percent) from the field to the Dolphins lackluster 27-of-61 (44.3 percent) effort. From three-point range, PRCC was four of seven (57.1 percent), while DCC was four of 17 (23.5 percent). Delgado had the edge on the boards with 35 rebounds (14 offensive, 21 defensive) to Pearl River 34(10 offensive, 24 defensive), while the Wildcats had 27 turnovers to the Dolphins 18. PRCC returns to action Monday when it travels to Copiah-Lincoln in Wesson to open both school MACJC South Division schedules (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.), then The River wraps its pre-Christmas holiday portion of its schedule when Delgado visits Shivers Gymnasium Thursday, Dec. 8, for rematches at 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men).